The camera shows a slightly built 13-year-old boy pacing in a tiny cell, pausing every so often to lean against the wall, his head buried in his arms, his body trembling. Three guards rush in and quickly overpower the boy, stripping him naked.

Hungary (HRW) – EU Should Seek To Halt Plan to Hold Asylum Seekers in Transit Zones. A draft bill proposed by the Hungarian government would allow the authorities to automatically detain asylum seekers in transit zones and to summarily return asylum…

Armenia (HRW) – Close Orphanages; Ensure Accessible Services, Education for All. Thousands of children in Armenia are needlessly separated from their parents and placed in institutions due to disability or poverty, Human Rights Watch said in a report released today. The…

Ecuador (GV) – The activists say they want to “break the silence.” According to the 2011 National Survey of Familial Relations and Gender Violence, six out of every ten women in Ecuador have been victim of some kind of abuse. This January, the initiative…

Germany (Sputnik) – German army recruits in southwest Germany were subjected to violence and sadistic sexual practices, German magazine Der Spiegel reports. The German army has been rocked by a scandal at its barracks in Pfullendorf, in the southwest German state of Baden-Württemberg, German magazine Der…

Russia (HRW) – Parliament Should Reject Measure That Harms Families. A draft law pending in Russia’s parliament would seriously weaken protections against domestic violence, Human Rights Watch said today. Parliament should reject the law as dangerous and incompatible with Russia’s international…

A recently formed armed group called “Return, Reclamation, Rehabilitation,” or 3R, has killed civilians, raped, and caused largescale displacement over the past year in northwest Central African Republic. United Nations peacekeepers in the area have been unable to fully protect civilians.

“The Central African Republic is on the international agenda, but its neglected northwest territory now presents an emerging crisis,” said Lewis Mudge, Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. “The 3R armed group, which originally portrayed itself as a protector of the Peuhl, has used it increased strength to expand abusive attacks.”

The Rio Olympics recently welcomed the world’s finest athletes and provided a stage for Herculean feats of physical achievement, but the event’s host city stood as a backdrop of stark inequality. From the forced eviction of the community of Vila Autódromo to give way to the Olympic Park to deplorable working conditions, myriad rights violations underlay the spectacle.

It might have been easy for these abuses to be swept under the rug as the media’s light shone on medals and pageantry, but activists harnessed the power of new technology to compile and share evidence of the cost of Rio 2016.

CrowdVoice.by is a new tool that enables activists and grassroots organizations to collaboratively curate media related to their causes. It streamlines the task of collecting and disseminating evidence, drawing in content from multiple sources for distribution across many different platforms. It encourages users to harness the power of their networks to work faster and smarter.

Members of a special anti-crime unit in the Central African Republic unlawfully executed at least 18 people and possibly more between April 2015 and March 2016, Human Rights Watch said today.

The former director of the unit, the Central Office for the Repression of Banditry (Office Central de Répression du Banditisme, OCRB), Robert Yékoua-Ketté, who was removed from his position on June 8, is directly implicated in 13 of the cases and should be investigated with a view to prosecuting him.